"If I knew the answer to that, I would have done it earlier," jokes Thomas Mars, singer with French electro- poppers Phoenix, when asked how his band of perennially stylish underachievers has been transformed into a mainstream, gloriously out-of-place Grammy winning act of the moment.

As turnarounds in fortunes go, it's quite a story. After nearly 10 years of making chic, 1980s-infused dance-pop anthems that attracted fashionista endorsement and cult adoration but failed to make significant dents into the mainstream, Phoenix (completed by Deck D'Arcy on bass, and guitarists Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz) are suddenly one of the most sought after bands in the world — quite a change from the start of 2009 when, as Mars readily admits from the Los Angeles home he shares with film director girlfriend Sofia Coppola, Phoenix were unsigned and lacking direction.

Yet an adventurous and often fraught songwriting period (more on this later) culminated with the release of the ace up Phoenix's sleeve in the form of single "1901," made available as a free download in February last year "to see if anyone was still interested."